Chapter 186: Why Dracula Family got involved with Leo?
The very next day,
Leo and Ophis were dressed neatly in their uniforms as they sat at the dining table.
The plates of food steamed faintly in the morning air, while Raphael and Azrael sat opposite them, quietly sharing the meal.
Raphael bit her lips before asking once more, "Are you sure? Going to school now, after everything?"
Leo sighed, setting the bite of food back down. His expression was calm, almost too calm, as he replied, "As I said before, nothing is going to happen in the school. The festival is getting near... I need to train for that too. I mean... let’s enjoy what little we have," he said, shrugging lightly, though his face carried a happy glow that felt unusual for him.
Raphael and the others were surprised... truly surprised, to see him so excited, so uncharacteristically bright, ever since waking up that morning.
It wasn’t like his personality had suddenly changed, but there was something... different.
He seemed too happy and eager, instead of the boy who always carried the weight of doubt and questions of self-worth.
Did their talk last night bring him peace, or... was something else stirring inside him?
Leo’s eyes shifted toward Azrael, the faint seriousness breaking through his calm expression. "And about that..."
Azrael placed a hand against her chest, smiling with confidence as she leaned forward. "Don’t worry. When you’re free, I’ll get you there myself. Just give me a call... You have my personal number, right?"
Leo nodded slowly. They exchanged numbers last night... mostly she was insisting on it. "I will give you a call," he said with quiet firmness before rising to his feet. Ophis followed him in silence, and together they left for school.
Raphael frowned at the sudden exchange, her stomach knotting as she turned her sharp eyes on her friend. "What are you planning to do with him?"
Azrael smirked with a cheeky, sly expression, stretching her words as if to provoke. "Nothing~"
Raphael’s eyes grew cold, a dangerous gleam igniting within them. "Woman... if you lay your hands on him in any strange way, mark my words—you will never see your friend again."
Azrael gulped as the deadly seriousness in Raphael’s gaze bore into her, sweat already forming across her forehead. Her lips trembled before she forced out a nervous laugh.
"C-Come on... I wouldn’t do that. It’s just some equipment for our endeavours, you know? Nothing more than tools."
Raphael hummed, her suspicion not fading. Her eyes flickered with hesitation as her hands clenched tightly into fists.
"Azrael... are you sure about this? This is not something we can just treat lightly..." Her voice cracked faintly, the image of Leo fighting monsters clawing at her heart, one she still couldn’t accept.
Azrael exhaled heavily, shaking her head with a sigh that carried both weariness and resolve. "Come on, Raphael. Look at the truth in front of you. Did you ever imagine magic existing before?"
Raphael shook her head slowly.
"See? That’s the reality. The world we knew is already lost. And now, we’re trapped in a situation where we’re forced to accept what stands before us." Her voice hardened as she leaned closer.
"Think about Leo. He’s just a pitiful child—forced into things far beyond what he could ever comprehend. Don’t you see it? He must be unbearably lonely in a time like this.
You shouldn’t burden yourself worrying over fate or fearing what comes next. You should stand beside him, no matter what." Azrael’s fist tightened against the table.
Her eyes locked on Raphael’s as she added,
"Didn’t he already do that for you? He came for you, Raphael. If he truly feared the monsters, if he was driven only by fear, he would have let anything happen to you.
But he didn’t.
He came, even when it meant facing death itself. He said it was because of a deal with the devil... but I don’t believe that.
No. It wasn’t the devil that forced him into danger—it was the love he carries for you that pushed him forward."
Raphael bit her lips. She stayed silent for a long moment, then slowly nodded her head, the weight of Azrael’s words sinking deep into her heart.
"Anyway, let’s go to the hospital. They must be worried about us too... and I need to see the survivor..." Her face turned wicked.
Raphael could only weakly smile, shaking her head as if she had no strength left to argue.
Meanwhile, Leo and Ophis were walking on the street.
Ophis glanced at Leo while they moved side by side. His face was radiating with a pure, blissful expression, almost otherworldly, as though he had touched some strange enlightenment or broken through a barrier only he could see.
"Hmm..." She hummed.
Leo noticed and turned his head. "What?"
"Nothing..." Ophis shook her head before asking curiously, "Anyway... do you have any information about Valra?"
Leo sighed, rubbing his eyes in frustration. "I don’t know..." His hand clenched into a fist..
He couldn’t even call the number, because that phone was in his hand!
So F’ed up!
Ophis hummed, her lips twitching as she thought, ’Hope that doesn’t stop the class transferring process,’ her face hardening into a serious expression.
Leo then hesitantly asked, "Ophis... are you alright?"
Ophis blinked, slightly caught off guard. "What do you mean? I am, of course, alright."
"Your father... I meant."
"..." Ophis’s face turned blank. She needed to deal with her father sooner or later... right?
That man would come for her, one way or another—to take her powers and discard her body like he had done to countless others.
Leo’s voice lowered. "May I ask... why your siblings and the other mothers ended up dead? Sacrificing them... why?"
Ophis’s expression grew grim.
She shook her head slowly. "I don’t know... all he did was this—those who failed to fulfil his missions, he took their lives and their powers. Other than that... I don’t get it."
Leo hummed thoughtfully, nodding to himself with a troubled gaze. "Anyway, if it feels too heavy for you... if you don’t want to be involved with the fight, it’s fine—"
"Tsk." Ophis’s face twisted, her annoyance sharp as a knife.
Was this bastard looking down on her?
Just because she failed once?
How dare he!
Her pace quickened!!
Leo blinked, sighing inwardly... He could tell she was angry now.
"Come on, Ophis... it’s not like that," he said quickly, following after her.
Meanwhile, at the school gates, Sakura and Luna stood waiting.
"Do you think he will come today?" Sakura asked, her lips trembling as her eyes fixed on the gate, as she watched the students coming in.
Luna sighed, shaking her head, ’She really wanted him... ah,’ she thought.
Just as they were waiting, suddenly Sakura’s eyes flared with recognition when she spotted a tall boy walking through the school gates, his reddish-black hair catching the morning light.
"S-Seni—" Her voice broke, trembling, as she almost cried out with teary eyes. Her hand rose instinctively, desperate to wave, desperate to call his name.
But it halted in midair.
Her breath stuttered when her gaze sharpened, not on the boy she thought... but on the figure that walked in front of him, his attention fixed on the small, twin-tailed pink-haired girl.
Sakura’s eyes widened in horror. Her entire body froze as if her blood had turned to ice. Leo... easing the little girl, whose cheeks puffed in a childish pout.
Luna frowned sharply, her brows furrowing as she recognised the figure as well. "Wait... isn’t that..."
"W-Why is she here?" Sakura whispered, the words trembling from her lips.
Her horror deepened when, for the briefest second, the little girl’s eyes slid sideways. Just the corner of her gaze locked onto Sakura with unnatural sharpness... cold, predatory, almost inhuman!!
Both Luna and Sakura flinched violently, a chill stabbing into their spines.
Without another word, they turned and bolted!
"Come on, Ophis... I said I’m sorry," Leo’s voice carried behind, though Ophis barely listened.
Her pink eyes lingered on the corner of the building. ’Hmm... I think I saw a mosquito there...’ she thought casually before shrugging, her gaze flicking back toward Leo, who was practically begging her.
She smirked, flipping her pink hair with a haughty flourish. ’That’s it, human... you should beg me, not the other way around! Hmph... but still... maybe I shouldn’t overdo this,’ she mused silently, a cruel satisfaction blooming before she turned back to him.
"If you feel sorry, then... take me to your class!" she declared, lips curling into a mischievous smile.
Leo blinked, almost choking on air. "My class? What am I supposed to say to the teacher?"
Ophis shrugged innocently, "I don’t know... maybe your child—"
Leo’s face flushed crimson as he immediately covered her mouth, panic spiking through him as he glanced around. A few nearby students had already begun whispering to each other, smirks curling on their lips as they leaned in closer.
Leo gritted his teeth, "Fine... I’ll do it. Just shut your damn mouth!" he hissed in a harsh whisper.
Ophis smirked in victory beneath his hand, her eyes gleaming.
She had won. With this, she could finally escape from those brats that tormented her in the lower grades.
Meanwhile, behind the school building, hidden away from all eyes, both Sakura and Luna collapsed against the wall, panting. Their faces were drenched in sweat, as if they had just glimpsed a monster crawling out of a nightmare.
Sakura gulped, her chest heaving, before she turned to Luna with frantic eyes. "T-That thing... did it see us?"
Luna shook her head quickly, though her voice wavered. "I-I don’t think so..."
Sakura exhaled in shaky relief, leaning her back against the wall, pressing her hand against her pounding heart. She drew in a deep breath, then let it out with trembling lips. Finally, she looked at Luna, her face paling.
"What the fuck is she doing here?"
Luna shrugged helplessly. "How do I know? I saw her the same as you."
Sakura’s teeth ground together in frustration,
"Then how come she’s so close to Leo?! What’s going on here? Why is the Dracula family getting involved with him? This doesn’t make sense..." She bit her lips, horror and confusion twisting across her face.
Luna’s face turned grim. "We should inform the Master."
"No!" Sakura’s voice cracked like a whip as she grabbed Luna’s arm, stopping her from reaching for her phone.
"If we told them, he would pull me away from this place. He’d take me away from Leo..." Her breath shook, and her voice broke into a cry.
"I... I don’t want that... I CANNOT LOSE LEO ANYMORE!!"